Curtain Bangs Are The Most Flattering Fringe Hairstyle For All Ages

You know when you get the sudden urge to do something that feels adventurous? That urge to change a hairstyle? A lot of times we suppress that feeling—and other times we get the bangs. Great women in the past didn't feel that same reluctance to take the plunge into fringe-dom. When Audrey Hepburn decided she wanted baby bangs, she did it and with a pixie cut, too. When Elizabeth Taylor wanted wispy bangs to accompany her afternoon martini, she asked for the scissors. And when Reese Witherspoon decided to get side-swept bangs right before an awards show in the early 2000s, she rocked them with a killer yellow gown and easy confidence. What's the moral of the story here? Bangs are timeless. Oh, and get the bangs if you really want them.

Any season kicks off with a bang with a fresh new haircut under your hat, and right now vintage curtain bangs are majorly trending on Pinterest, TikTok, and beyond. Brigitte Bardot practically invented them in the 1960s. Apparently, curtain bangs are the flattering update to any length or cut you see all over social media, in the salons, and on the streets. Check out these curtain bang styles that are perfect for everyone, and get to your stylist.

A nice thing about curtain bangs is that even though you’re committing to a new hairstyle, curtain bangs are pretty versatile if you want to change your look from day to day. The whole idea is to cut bangs that don't necessarily have to look like bangs. You can part them decidedly in the center to appear more like face-framing layers (seen above), or you can spread them across the forehead to veer more full coverage (seen below). Either way, curtain bangs require way less styling than most bang types, which can be widely appreciated by anyone not well-versed in the art of the round brush. Beyond that, they're flattering for all ages.

You can easily work curtained bangs into the haircut you already have and make them naturally transitional as they grow out by asking your stylist to blend them into longer face-framing layers on each side. That way, you can fully brush them to each side to appear less noticeable if desired. You can also pin them back to keep them completely out of the way. They work with almost any hairstyle, from a shag haircut to a high ponytail to long, natural curls. The versatility means you can easily change your look without a lot of maintenance. Basically, curtain bangs can be fully on display one day and demure the next, which is like having two haircuts in one. Fun!

Curtain bangs look charmingly retro and hip at the same time, and we'll always show up for a haircut tweak that works with any face shape, with all lengths—from pixie to ultra-long—and at any age. It all has to do with confidence, and for that, we recommend channeling your inner Audrey, Elizabeth, Reese, and Brigitte.

Get ready to feel like your most effortlessly stylish self, sans any high-maintenance styling.